The High School Games
by Christkl
Summary: Working title. Maybe. Katniss has just moved to a new city with her family, and starts her Junior year at a completely new school, with no friends, until she slowly starts bonding with a certain blond haired, blue eyed boy. My first attempt at writing a fanfiction. Katniss/Peeta, potentially other couples later on. Rated M for adult language and possible adult themes later on.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **

**Hello! This is the first story I've ever posted here, and there are a few things I would like to point out before we begin.  
><strong>

**First and foremost, English is not my native languauge, so I apologize for any potential grammatical errors.**

**Second, as you might've guessed from English not being my native language, I don't live in the US, and  
>am therefore not 100 % certain on how stuff like high school works in term of classes, grading and what have you. I would<br>however love any and all tips and/or corrections you might have after reading this.**

**The story revolves mostly around Peeta and Katniss, but will potentially involve other pairings later on. The story is  
>told mainly, but not exclusively, from Katniss' perspective.<strong>

**I think that about sums it up. I hope you enjoy the first chapter, and please feel free to post a review afterwards, should you feel like it.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Ugh. Mondays. Mondays are the worst, Katniss thought to herself as she pulled into the parking lot of her new school. This Monday was particularly bad, because not only did it signal the first day of a sure to be long and boring week, it was also the first day of her Junior year in High School. She moved here with her mother and younger sister very recently, so recently in fact, that she had missed the first week of school, meaning that whilst this was Katniss' first day back from summer vacation, everyone else had already been back for a week. Katniss had never been good at making friends, and she was not looking forward to having to start all over again in this new place. This school, and the rest of the city for that matter, was several times larger than the quaint little town they lived in previously.

And to top it all off, it was raining.

It's not that Katniss was an overly unpleasant person. It's true that she might have a tendency to be a tad too sarcastic at times, but the main reason she used to have a hard time making friends, was simply that there were nobody back home who she liked enough to put in any actual effort, with the exception of a few friends she liked quite a lot, but who she would now have to do without due to her…relocating.

Katniss exhaled exasperatedly as she backed her way into an empty corner parking space and shut off the engine. Luckily she was here early, so there were plenty of spaces available close to the school entrance. She grabbed her backpack, pulled the hood of her black hoodie up over her head, and climbed out into the rain. She was parked next to a very new, shiny looking Audi. She looked between the Audi and her own car, an old, dark red and dented Chevy pickup, a few times. The contrast between the two vehicles was almost comical. Though probably more so if you were the owner of the Audi, and not the pickup. She started making her way towards the main entrance.

Once inside, it didn't take Katniss long to realize that she was lost. Good and proper lost. Her old school had only one building, and a single grass field behind it that all the sports teams had to share. This school seemed to have _at least_ four different buildings, plus one she figured was used for indoor sports, plus several large sports areas behind the school. She looked at her schedule, which she was mailed last week, along with a note from the principal for Katniss to give to her teachers to explain her absence during the first week of school. The schedule was frustratingly unhelpful in terms of helping her figure out where her first class was, and Katniss wished they would've sent her a map of the campus as well.

She figured there was no way she'd be able to find her class on her own, so she looked around the hallway for someone to ask for directions. After a quick scan of the seemingly endless hallway filled with lockers, her eyes landed on a guy fiddling with his locker, his back turned to Katniss, about twenty lockers down from where she was standing. She decided he would be as guide a person to ask as any, and started walking towards him. For a brief moment, as she walked towards him, every high school movie or TV-show that she had ever seen flashed through her mind. Was this guy going to laugh at her for no apparent reason and shove her into a locker? Was he going to look at her, and then turn back around to completely ignore her, having already decided she was not worth his time? Was he going to throw a Slushie in her face? Then she condemned her younger sister in her mind for making her watch _Glee_ with her. She shook her head as she reached the guy, who had not yet noticed her. She cleared her throat.

"Hi, sorry, uhm, any chance you could help me out for a minute?"

The guy quickly turned his head to face her. "Yes?" he asked in a soft voice, that for some inexplicable reason, Katniss found soothing. Katniss also couldn't help but notice the boy's piercing blue eyes and his wet, blond hair, clinging to his forehead because of the rain. It wasn't until he raised one his eyebrows slightly that Katniss realized he was waiting for her to say something. She cleared her throat again, looking down at her schedule.

"I'm a little lost. My first class is English in Building C, classroom 304?" she looked up from schedule again. The boy smiled pleasantly

"Oh, you're new?" he asked.

'_No, I've been going here since freshman year, but I forgot how to find my way around this place over the summer.'_ Katniss thought, but before she had the chance to say anything out loud, the boy shook his head at himself.

"Sorry, that was a stupid question." At least he could figure that out himself. Katniss attempted a small smile. The boy turned slightly to his side and pointed further down the hall. "Building C is down the hall and to the left, at the end of that hall is a door to a courtyard, and directly across is C. Room 304 should then be somewhere on your right hand side when you walk in the door from the courtyard." He turned back around to face her, still smiling. Katniss nodded appreciatively.

"Thank you."

He nodded back. "You're very welcome." He turned back to his locker as Katniss walked past him, towards the end of the hall.

As Katniss walked down the hall, she was first of all pleased that her previous worries about being slushied had proven silly and unnecessary, but for reasons still unknown to her, she was fighting the urge to turn her head and look at the boy again. However, she managed to reach the end of the hall and turn the corner before the urge got the better of her. Had she turned around, though, she would've caught the blond haired boy looking at her all the way down the hall.

When she reached the courtyard, she was relieved that it had at least stopped raining. She crossed to Building C, and easily found her classroom. About seven to ten students were already seated in the room, engaged in small-talk in various groups of two to three people. None of them looked up at her when she entered the room. She crept along the wall towards the back, and took a seat at the back row, in the right corner by the window. She dumped her nearly empty backpack on the floor, against the wall. More students began filing in, but Katniss was looking out the window absentmindedly, at what to her looked like one of the football areas. She sat in this state for several minutes, but was eventually brought out of it by a voice on her left.

"Hi." Katniss turned her head, finding that a blond girl had sat down at the table next to her. She was smiling at Katniss.

"Hello." Katniss sat up straight, realizing she had slumped down in her seat. Her voice was dull and void of any attempt to sound pleasant. Katniss' lack of eagerness did nothing to stop the blond girl, however.

"Are you the new girl?" Katniss raised an eyebrow. _The_ new girl? You would imagine that a school this size had more than one new student. Were people expecting her? The blond girl, apparently sensing Katniss' confusion, continued. "Last week, I overheard the principal explaining to Ms. Thompson, our English teacher, that some girl wouldn't be joining the school until this week due to her just moving here or something. I figured that would be you, since I don't recall having seen you before."

Katniss turned slightly towards this girl as she answered, mainly to avoid appearing rude. "Yeah, that would be me." She still sounded like she was on the brink of falling asleep. Which was only half-true.

"Well, nice to meet you. My name is Madge Undersee." The girl was still smiling enthusiastically. How on Earth was she managing to be so cheery at 8 in the morning? Katniss nodded, giving her the same forced attempt at a smile she gave the boy in the hallway.

"Katniss. Everdeen." The girl, apparently known as Madge, made no further attempts at small talk as the teacher walked in. Katniss unconsciously slumped back down in her seat, staring out the window.

The teacher, Ms. Thompson, only called on Katniss once during the lesson, merely to confirm that she was the girl she had heard about, as Madge had previously explained. Apart from that, Katniss remained quiet, barely paying attention.

Once the bell rung, signaling the end of the class, Katniss grabbed her backpack, slung it over her shoulder and trudged towards the door. On the way, she was approached once more by Madge, who asked her if she needed any help finding her next class. Katniss kindly declined, this time sporting a more genuine smile. Her next class, History, was in Building A, meaning it would be around where she originally asked for directions. She would be able to find her way back there herself and, despite Madge seeming very kind, she would rather walk there herself.

Upon entering Building A and rounding the corner in the hallway, Katniss' eyes involuntarily focused on the locker where she first saw the blond boy, scanning the area to see if he for some reason would be there again. Seeing nothing, she quickly shook her head slightly, wondering why on Earth she was looking in the first place. She continued on and quickly found her History classroom.

Katniss was relieved to see that the back right corner seat had not yet been occupied, and she hurried down to claim it before anyone else could, once again dumping her backpack on the floor and looking aimlessly out the window. This time, she was not called on at all during the entire lesson. After what seemed like an eternity, the bell rung once more. Katniss scooped up her backpack, walked out of the classroom and stepped off to the side of the hallway, so as not to be in the way of the horde of migrating students walking up and down the hall, as she looked at her schedule again. Next up was Art. Art? What in the world had made her think that art was a good idea for an elective when she had decided on her schedule? Sure, she liked to draw now and then. Some had even praised her for being pretty good at it, but Katniss was not convinced. Either way, it could only be better than what she had endured in her first two lessons of the day.

Her art class meant she was, once more, headed back to Building C, however this classroom was at the other end of the building than her English class. She had a break for the next 15 minutes until the class started, but she decided to head straight for the classroom regardless. She managed to find it with relative ease, being one of the first students there. The art classroom was bigger, more spacious than the others, however based on the number of seats available, seemed to hold fewer students. The entire right side wall consisted of giant windows, allowing in an abundant amount of light. The seats and tables were all spread out much more than in the other classrooms. Katniss figured this would be so every student would have enough elbow room to work in case they were painting something or whatever. With her preferred seat in the back right corner already occupied, Katniss sat down on the second of the four rows, all the way to the left, near the door. She put her backpack on the floor, shuffling it under the table with her foot, to move it out of the way for other passing students. She slumped down, pulled out her phone and waited for class to start. Some minutes later, she was brought out of her trance.

"Manage to find your other classes without a map?" The voice was familiar, albeit the tone of it was slightly lighter than when Katniss had previously heard it. She looked up from her phone and met the gaze of the blond boy from this morning, standing next to her, backpack slung over his right shoulder. Katniss was once again taken aback by how incredibly bright his blue eyes were. His hair had dried since their last meeting, and now fell in small waves over his forehead. He also seemed much larger than he did before, but Katniss contributed this to her sitting down and him standing up. Once again, it took Katniss a second or two longer to answer than it should have.

"Yes. Though, a map would've been nice nonetheless." Katniss found herself fighting back an urge to smile. This did not happen often. The blond boy, however, did not show the same 'restraint', as he let out a chuckle.

"Yeah, it took me ages to get it right when I first started here." He leaned back, resting against the table in front of Katniss. He was intending to keep up this conversation. And, for some reason, Katniss had no immediate objections to this.

"I bet. This school is easily three times the size of my old one." She put her phone away and sat up straight, making a mental note of having to learn to sit properly. "Classes are about just as boring, though."

This earned another grin from the boy. "Don't worry, this class is great." He shuffled, shifting his weight on to his other leg. "So, what's your name?" As he spoke, he looked at the door to see a woman, most likely the teacher, wearing way too much make-up walk in the door. She walked to the front desk and began telling the chatting students to find their seats. The boy turned his attention back to Katniss, waiting for an answer.

"Katniss." She deliberately left out her last name as she, for reasons she could not explain, felt the need to leave some form of mystery about her, as opposed to when she had told Madge her full name just like that in her first class.

The boy smiled widely. "Nice to meet you, Katniss. My name is P-"

"Mr. Mellark!" The boy was interrupted by an unnecessarily loud and very high pitched voice, practically dripping with impatience, which turned out to be the teacher. "Find your seat. Please."

The boy, whose last name was apparently Mellark, turned to the teacher and then back to Katniss, giving an apologetic shrug as he stood up and took a seat, about three seats over to the right of Katniss, on the same row. Katniss watched him walk to his seat as he turned his back.

P. P what? In a way it seemed fair, Katniss learned only the boy's last name, and he learned only her first name. But regardless, Katniss wanted to know his first name. But for now, she would have to focus on the class. She figured she would try to give this class a chance, partly because it was an elective she had chosen herself after all, and partly because the boy had given it his seal of approval just before. Not that his opinion should matter to Katniss. But it did.

He turned out to be right, though. Sort of. The class proved more interesting than her other two and she actually found herself participating. Most of the class consisted of the teacher talking about different techniques to be used when painting and drawing, such as shading, outlining and the likes. The students were given different objects to sketch during the class, and Katniss earned herself several nods of approval from the teacher throughout. Every now and then she would try to steal a glimpse of the boy a few seats to her right, but she could never really get a good look. She did however notice the teacher clapping her hands, clearly delighted by whatever was on the boy's paper. The hour drew to a close. Following this class was the lunch break. Katniss briefly contemplated asking the boy for directions to the cafeteria, hoping he would walk her there. She quickly dismissed the thought.

On her way to the cafeteria, she walked by Madge, who recognized her, but didn't stop to greet her. She did however smile and give a small wave. Katniss smiled and waved back. She made another mental note to try a little better at conversing with this girl if the she ever sat next to her again in English.

Katniss ate her lunch by herself.

After lunch, the rest of the day moved agonizingly slow. Math. Spanish. Psychology. No Madge. No blond, blue-haired boy. Nobody else spoke to her.

Katniss was glad to be done for today. It had started raining again. She didn't even bother pulling up her hoodie when she walked from the school towards her car. She opened the door, threw her backpack on the passenger's seat, and climbed in. She shut the door and leaned back against the comfortable seat, exhaling in that same, exasperated fashion she did this morning. Having buckled up, she pulled out of the parking lot and set off for home.

Roughly 35 minutes later, she walked through the front door of the small house she lived in with her sister and mother. Although, she had hardly seen her mother, due to her working at very odd hours at the hospital downtown. Hours she had been forced to take after moving here.

"Prim? You home?" Prim, short for Primrose, was Katniss' four year younger sister. The one person in the world Katniss would do anything for.

"In the living room."

Katniss removed her shoes and jacket, placing her backpack on the floor, and headed towards the source of the voice. On her way there, she noticed a yellow note on the kitchen counter.

_Back late. Dinner in the fridge. Make sure Prim goes to bed early._

_ Mom_

Katniss picked up the note, read it once, then crumbled it up and threw it in the trash. When she entered the living room, she found prim perched on the sofa, watching TV. She looked up at Katniss. "How was your first day?"

"Great" said Katniss simply, as she sat down on the couch next to her sister.

"Any cute boys?" Prim teased, knowing full well Katniss was not one to talk about boys.

"Shut up."

"Is that a yes?" grinned Prim, her full attention now on Katniss. Katniss, however, was looking directly at the TV.

The moment Prim mentioned cute boys, Katniss' mind instantly flickered to the blond boy, who she only now knew only as P Mellark. Katniss told herself that the reason for this was simply that he was the only boy with whom she had interacted with all day. "No."

"Are you blushing?" Prim pressed on.

Katniss wasn't blushing, however, for a short moment, Katniss thought she might be, due to Prim asking this when she was thinking of the blond boy.

"I said shut up. Don't make me tickle you."

This threat finally shut Prim up. She turned her face back to the TV, albeit still with a wide grin across her face. Katniss couldn't help smiling either at her little sister. She would never, could never, be mad at her.

They ate yesterday's leftover stew mostly in silence, Prim being completely absorbed in another episode of Glee. Katniss did as requested by her mother through a yellow note, and tucked in Prim early. Katniss then went to her room, plumped down onto her bed and opened up her laptop.

After browsing for a while, she ended up on Facebook, where she came across the official page for her school. There were pictures from last week, during the first few days of school this year. Katniss clicked through them absentmindedly. She didn't have to look at many photos before she came across a photo of Madge. Then another. And a third. She was a very photogenic girl. She was nearing the end of the photo album when she found a picture of him.

On the picture, he appeared heavily engaged in conversation with a group of three to four other people. They were all laughing. He was flashing a set of brilliantly white teeth. Next to him was another boy, with curly hair with an odd bronze tint, and a very impressive tan. On the opposite side was a girl Katniss recognized from her art class. She didn't know her name. Katniss found herself moving the mouse over the picture. Only one person had been tagged on the photo. The bronze haired boy, Finnick Odair. She clicked back and forth a few pictures in the album, to see if there were other pictures of the blue eyed boy. None.

She still did not know his first name. It started to bother her. Then it started to bother her that she was bothered by not knowing some random guy's name. P what? Peter? Paul? Patrick? Before she knew what she was doing, she began typing 'Mellark' into the search bar at the top of the Facebook page. Upon realizing what she was doing, she quickly closed down her laptop, shoving it off the bed, where it landed on a conveniently placed pile of clothes. She buried her face in her pillow.

"Ugh. Mondays."

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><p><strong>AN: That's all for chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it, and as I mentioned in the disclaimer, please feel free to leave a review with any criticism, tips or suggestions you might have.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So here's Chapter 2. I really appreciate those of you who've taken the time to read, favorite,  
>follow and review my first chapter, it means a lot. Please<br>do continue giving any constructive criticism, feedback or suggestions you might have. **

**This chapter is a little longer than the first one, but I hope it isn't so long it bores you and discourages you from reading.  
><strong>**If this is the case, please do tell me, and I'll try to make future chapters either shorter or more action-packed.**

**For now, please enjoy Chapter 2!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Katniss awoke to the loud buzz of her alarm clock. She groaned as she turned over, searching for the 'Off' button. Eventually finding it and turning off that infernal buzzing noise, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. Making her way towards her closet, nearly tripping over the laptop she had carelessly thrown on the floor the evening before, she quickly decided on an outfit consisting of another darkly colored hoodie much like the one she had worn yesterday, and matching pants. After getting dressed, she made her way towards the kitchen, where she found another yellow note from her mother.

_Got in very late last night. Can you take Prim to school? I'll pick her up after. Her lunch is in the fridge._

_Mom_

Once again, Katniss crumbled up the note and headed towards Prim's room. She had heard her mother come home from work last night, several hours after Katniss herself had gone to sleep. Or tried to, anyway. So she couldn't really blame her mother for not doing things like taking her youngest daughter to school and putting her to bed. As much as she wanted to blame her. She knocked lightly on Prim's door before entering.

"Time to get up, little Duck." Duck was Katniss' nickname for her younger sister. She'd been using it for so long that she had pretty much forgotten how it originated. Prim stirred as Katniss knelt down by her bed. "I'm taking you to school today." This seemed to please Prim, as she yawned, stretching out her arms, as a small smile crept across her face.

Katniss left Prim to get dressed, and instead went into the kitchen to get breakfast ready. As she was pouring cereal into a bowl, she was studying her schedule for the day. Her classes were all the same as yesterday, just in a different order, except for Art class, which today had been replaced with Science in the 6th and final class of the day. She figured she should probably try a little harder today than she had yesterday. Prim emerged from her bedroom, and Katniss handed her a bowl of cereal, which she took straight to the living room, where she sat down and turned on some cartoon show. Katniss watched her absentmindedly from the kitchen, eating her own cereal at the kitchen counter. Once finished, she went into the bathroom while waiting for Prim's cartoon show to finish.

She studied herself in the mirror, running a brush through her long, brown and slightly tangled hair. Katniss was usually not one for makeup, mostly she just used it to cover what she could of the dark rings under her eyes. Today however, she ended up using slightly than that. After applying said makeup, she braided her hair in a single braid down her back, something her mother had taught her. Satisfied with her appearance, she exited the bathroom to find Prim putting on her shoes, just about ready to go. Katniss grabbed Prim's lunch from the fridge, stuffed it in her backpack for her, and put on her shoes. She decided against a jacket today, as the sun was already well out and the weather was much warmer and more pleasant than yesterday. She looked at Prim.

"You ready to go?" Prim nodded. They headed outside and climbed into Katniss' pickup. Luckily, Prim's school was on the way to Katniss' school, so it wasn't much of a delay for Katniss to drop off her little sister. Not that she would've minded either way. Katniss turned the key in the ignition, and the truck roared to life.

"This car is so loud" Prim complained. Katniss shrugged.

"You could always walk."

"No no, that's ok"

"That's what I thought." They both laughed as Katniss pulled out of the driveway and headed for school.

Katniss liked her pickup truck. She only got it a few months ago, when she turned 16, but she had grown attached to it very quickly. It was big and sturdy, it made her feel safe. Plus, seeing as it was actually so loud, it had often helped her tune out the outside world, let her forget about her problems for just a little while.

Plus, it saved her from having to sit next to some creepy old guy on the bus.

"When you're older and getting your first car, you'll understand" Katniss explained Prim. Prim merely rolled her eyes in return. It was silent for a few minutes, before Prim spoke up again.

"I miss home."

This took Katniss by surprise. Prim had never shown any problems when it came to leaving their old home to move here. On the other hand, Katniss might've just been too preoccupied with her own complaints to notice. Katniss looked sympathetically at her younger sister.

"I know. Me too. But this is home now. We just need to get used to it."

Prim shrugged, frowning slightly. "I guess."

"Yeah, plus, there's so much more to do in this city. It'll be great." This earned an incredulous look from Prim.

"Then how come you've done nothing but bitch about coming here for the past month?"

Katniss turned her head to her sister again. "Hey! Language!" She playfully slapped Prim's shoulder, trying to sound stern, but she couldn't help laughing. Prim giggled.

"Sorry."

"That's better. Besides, I'm a teenager. I'm supposed to be difficult and complain about everything. You'll get there, next year." Katniss smiled reassuringly as she came to a halt on the curb outside Prim's school. "Now you behave, and have a good day, okay? Mom will be here to pick you up this afternoon."

Prim nodded, and the girls embraced in a brief hug before Prim hopped out of the car. Katniss watched her until she made it inside, then pulled back onto the road and continued towards her own school.

She studied herself in the rearview mirror for a brief moment whilst holding for a red light. Should she even have bothered with the makeup this morning? Prim didn't seem to even notice any different. On the other hand, Katniss thought, she didn't put on a little extra makeup for Prim's sake. But then, who did she put on more makeup for? She had no idea. She convinced herself it was for her own sake, to be more comfortable with her appearance. The light turned green, and she quickly forgot about it.

Pulling into the school parking lot, she was glad to find that the parking space she had used yesterday, right next to the entrance, was still unoccupied. She backed her way in, and turned off the engine. As she was about to exit her vehicle, she caught sight of a man crossing the parking lot, heading for the grass fields around the corner from the main building. He was wearing a dark purple sports outfit, and had messy-looking dark blond hair that went just below his ears. He seemed to be struggling, carrying a large stack of bright orange cones in one hand, and a very heavy looking net full of sports balls in the other. Katniss figured he was the school's sports coach. Or one of many, rather. She glanced at herself in the rearview mirror one last time, grabbed her bag and headed for the school entrance.

Entering the building, she caught herself involuntarily looking in the direction of the locker where she'd first encountered the blond boy from yesterday. Nobody was there. She started off in the opposite direction, heading for her first class, but before she could take more than one step, she stopped herself again. She turned back around, looking around to make sure there were no other students in the hall, and then walked towards the locker. She figured maybe his name was on his locker.

Why did she care so much about that stupid name?

Would it be considered cheating if she got his name off of his locker, after he had asked her outright?

Why did she care if it would be considered cheating?

Before she had come to a conclusion in her mind, she had reached the locker. She read it, disappointed.

_P. Mellark_

Of course. That would've been too easy.

"Looking for something?"

Katniss spun around. There he was again, waves of blond hair falling gracefully over his forehead, eyes as blue as the sky. He seemed shorter than yesterday. Katniss also noted that this was the second time he'd managed to walk all the way up to her without her noticing. His eyes widened ever so slightly in acknowledgement as she turned around to face him.

"Oh it's you Katniss, didn't recognize you at first with that braid you got there." He was smiling. Why was he always smiling? Katniss decided she had better answer him.

"Hey" Hey? Is that all you got?

"So, what, you're lost again and need directions?" Still smiling. Although, by now, his smile had turned into more of a teasing grin. She didn't need directions, but she decided it would be better to go with that than having to explain she was looking at his locker to find out his name.

"Oh, uhm, no, I just…"

_Oh, I see we decided to go with an incoherent mumble instead._

He chuckled. "Looks like someone hasn't quite woken up properly yet."

_And now he's mocking you. Might as well ask about his him now, so you can stop obsessing about it._

"Yeah, no, I uhm, didn't sleep much. Had to drive my sister to school."

_He doesn't care about that. It doesn't even have anything to do with your lack of sleep. Now ask for his name._

"That sucks" he said, casually shifting his weight to his other leg, now leaning his shoulder against the row of lockers.

_See. Couldn't care less._

"Yeah, well, I'm used to it." Katniss shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts. "Anyway, I should really get to class!"

The boy straightened up. "All right. Take care." Katniss merely nodded and smiled in response, hurrying past him towards her first class.

_Good job getting his name._

First up was psychology class. Katniss found her psychology teacher to be a little….eccentric. But she figured that anyone who immersed themselves so much in the depths of the human mind as much as a psychology professor had, they were bound to have a few quirks. On the bright side, the teacher called on Katniss so many times she barely had time to obsess about the boy. He, the teacher, seemed to pretty much only call on the students on the back two rows. Maybe he figured people who sit in the back row have no interest in participating on their own. Which often turned out to be true. Katniss was glad that there seemed to be no wrong answers in psychology. She might actually end up liking this class.

History class, however, was a different matter. She had never been a fan of history. She never felt like she learned anything _new._ All was ever taught about was all stuff that happened years and years ago. On the bright side, today they were apparently watching a documentary that would last throughout the entire hour. The teacher looked like she had a bad hangover, as she sat in the corner with her sunglasses on, carefully sipping at her coffee, not even watching the film. Judged by some of the hushed comments by some of the other students, it was not rare to see that specific teacher in this condition.

Math was another big snooze fest. The entire class was spent on correcting and reviewing a test the class took last week, before Katniss' arrival. At the bell signaling lunch time, Katniss hurried out of class, hoping to make it to the cafeteria before it was swamped by other students. She was in luck. In a matter of minutes, she had a tray full of food and was deciding on where to sit. A female voice called for her attention.

"Katniss!" She turned around to see Madge, tray in hand, motioning with her head for Katniss to sit at the table Madge was heading for. Katniss smiled and obliged, sitting across from the blond girl from her English class.

Katniss had just sat down when Madge began speaking.

"So how are you finding your first few days here?"

Katniss shrugged, picking at a salad with her plastic fork. "It's not bad, I guess. I'm not really one for school in general, so it's hard to be _too_ enthusiastic. But it's no worse than my old school." Madge nodded.

"I get what you mean" she scooped a forkful of lasagna into her mouth, chewing and swallowing quickly. "Made any friends yet?" Katniss chuckled, causing a raised eyebrow from Madge. "What's funny?"

"Nothing, nothing." Katniss said, shaking her head, smiling. "You just sounded like my sister for a moment." Madge nodded again, grinning.

"But, to answer your question," Katniss continued "No, not really. I mean, everybody I've spoken to seem real nice, but you're the only one I've had more than one conversation with."

_Well, you and the blond boy._

"Well I suppose you have only been here for a day and a half. But don't be fooled, we have our cliques of bitchy cheerleaders, steroid-filled jocks and depressing Goths, like any other high school. You'll run into them soon enough."

"I can hardly wait" said Katniss, rolling her eyes. She wondered to herself if Madge didn't really have any friends either, seeing as how she was sitting here eating lunch with her. Then she dropped it again, for once glad to have someone to have lunch with. Madge swallowed the last bite of her lasagna, then gently wiped her face with a napkin, looking up at Katniss.

"Want to go to class?"

Katniss had already forgotten she had English next, a class she shared with Madge. She nodded, getting up. "Let's."

On their way to class, they engaged in some more casual chit-chat. Katniss tried to focus the conversation mainly on Madge. Apparently, her father was a very successful lawyer, meaning Madge and the rest of her family were very well-to-do. When asked directly by Katniss if she was actually rich, Madge had attempted to downplay it by categorizing themselves as 'relatively wealthy'. They reached their designated classroom, and sat down in the back right corner once more, by the windows. Looking out, Katniss caught sight of the man she saw this morning, crossing the parking lot with his arms full of sports equipment. He seemed to be setting up those bright orange cones in different sections of one of the fields.

"So who's that guy?" Katniss asked Madge, looking out the window. Madge followed her gaze.

"That would be Coach Abernathy. He coaches the soccer team."

"Ah" Katniss nodded in acknowledgement. So she was right about him being a sports coach. Not that it was too difficult to guess, his attire and what he was carrying at the time taken into consideration. She continued to look at him through the window, whilst Madge explained further.

"Yeah. I think the soccer tryouts start today, after class. Usually there's a pretty big turnout."

"So is the soccer team at this school usually any good?" Katniss thought back to the sports teams at her old school. It had been years and years since any of them had won anything. Madge practically snorted with laughter.

"Hah, no way. There's like, two or three really good players on the team, but they haven't won anything in ages. Come to think of it, the last time this school won a soccer championship was like 25 years ago, when Coach Abernathy himself was a student here and played on the team. There's a picture of him in the school's trophy case by the main entrance."

Katniss nodded, turning her attention away from the window and back to Madge. "So, what, is he like a terrible coach?"

Madge shrugged. "I dunno really. I think most of the players like him, even if he can be really strict sometimes. Most of the students who show up for tryouts are usually just the people who didn't make the cut for the football team, who always have tryouts the day before, and are just trying to get on any other sports team. So it's not like he has the most motivated and dedicated bunch to work with."

"I could see why that would be frustrating for him."

Madge merely nodded in agreement because their teacher had walked in and was now demanding the class's attention. She explained that they would be working with Shakespeare for the next couple of weeks.

"Shakespeare. Great." Katniss mumbled under her breath. "Never done that before."

Madge smiled, but remained silent.

The students were to pick a work by Shakespeare and write a detailed analysis of it, due in two weeks. Most of the class groaned in unison.

The teacher left the class 10 minutes before it actually ended, as she had some faculty meeting to attend, or something. Before leaving, she had insisted that the class got started on those Shakespeare assignments, but probably knew deep down that very few actually would. And true enough, the moment she closed the door, the class broke off into smaller groups, chatting away. Katniss looked to her left at Madge, who appeared to be the only one actually working.

"Why do I get the feeling that sitting next to you might have a positive influence on my grades?"

Madge giggled, looking up from her paper. "It's just what I do."

Shortly after, the bell sounded, and everyone got up. Before Madge and Katniss had said their goodbyes in the hallway, Madge had made sure to send a friend request to Katniss on Facebook. At least now Katniss would have one new friend to tell Prim about when she got home.

Whilst waiting for her Spanish class to begin, Katniss couldn't help looking at Madge's Facebook profile on her phone. She decided that Madge's 'relatively wealthy' was definitely a bit of an understatement, judging by some of the pictures on her profile. Fancy cars, large house, expensive looking furniture. Lots and lots of exotic holiday photos. Was that a yacht? They couldn't possibly have their own yacht. Could they? Someone else had already asked the same thing in one of the comments on the picture. Turns out, it wasn't their yacht after all. So they weren't _that_ rich. As the teacher entered, Katniss thought to herself that if she ever happened to be going anywhere with Madge, she'd _definitely_ suggest they take Madge's car.

Apart from a point halfway through where the teacher had caught Katniss daydreaming, staring out the window as always, Spanish class went by without a hitch. Now there was just science to get through, and she'd be free for the rest of the day. She looked at her schedule. Science with Mr. Latier, Building C, Room 316. So, a couple rooms down from her English class. Having quickly found it, she sat in her usual spot in the back by the window, dropping her backpack on the large table. The tables in this classroom were large enough to, and probably designed to, fit two students at each, and had various lab equipment scattered on them.

Only a few other students were in the room, but then as if on cue, student after student began filing in through the door. Katniss watched them all as they entered one by one, and that's when she same him.

He was already practically in the middle of the classroom before he saw her. And she was looking right at him.

_You're staring at him. Quit staring at him._

She looked away, but only for a second. She looked back at him, and he raised his head in a sort of greeting manner, and walked towards her at the back of the room.

"How do you always manage to be the first one in class? Do you like, run from classroom to classroom? Or are you just _that_ eager to learn?"

Katniss rolled her eyes. "More like eager to get a seat in the back row so I can slack off more." He laughed.

"May I?"

He nodded towards the seat next to Katniss, which was currently being occupied by her backpack. It took Katniss several seconds before she realized it was in the way.

"Oh, of course, sorry." She hurriedly grabbed the backpack and threw it on the floor next to the table. He sat down, angling his chair ever so slightly towards her, but still keeping a fair distance between the two of them.

_He's literally going to be right next to you for the next hour. If you don't get his name by the end of this class I swear to God I'll make you choke on your own spit._

"So, how are you doing? You seemed a little out of it this morning" he asked casually, resting his elbow on the table as he was facing little more towards her. Katniss blushed slightly, looking back at her terrible attempt at a conversation this morning.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm really not a morning person."

He shook his head in agreement. "Yeah me neither, no need to apolo-" he was interrupted by the teacher handing him a paper, evidently another test from last week that Katniss had missed. She was beginning to wonder how all these missed tests might potentially affect her grade.

"Come on, Mr. Mellark. We both know you can do better." The teacher walked away, heading for the next table.

"Shit" mumbled the boy solemnly under his breath as he studied the paper, running a hand through his golden hair. Katniss knew it was not her place, but she couldn't help peek over his shoulder, and saw a big, red D encircled in the bottom right of the paper. He flipped over the paper and looked at her. She quickly tried to pretend like she hadn't been looking.

"Yeah, science isn't really my thing" he said sheepishly.

Before Katniss knew what she was doing, she had already offered him her help. "Maybe I could help with that."

He looked at her, smiling appreciatively. "You're good at science?"

_No._

"Relatively, yeah."

_Liar._

He nodded, putting the paper away. "I might just take you up on that offer sometime, then."

"Okay then, ladies and gentlemen!" The teacher clapped his hands together, getting everyone's attention. Katniss and the boy both turned their heads towards him. "Today, we will be analyzing the behavior of waves." Out of the corner of her eye, Katniss could practically see the boy's heart sink as the teacher spoke.

"You will now proceed to read pages 37 to 41 in your books, and then answer the questions on page 42 and 43." He was writing the page numbers on the blackboard as he spoke, then turned around to face the class, wiping the chalk off his hands. "Any questions you do not manage to answer by the end of this class, I expect you to finish at home by Thursday. There were a few sporadic groans of protest throughout the classroom, which were all ignored by the teacher. "Now, has anyone not yet been assigned a textbook?"

Katniss and two other students raised their hands. The teacher nodded, jotting something down on a piece of paper.

"I will make sure to have books ready for you for next time, but for now you can read with the person next to you. Begin." The teacher almost ceremoniously gestured with his hands for the students to begin reading as he sat down in his chair.

The boy pulled his textbook out of his bag, placed it in the middle of the table and flipped it open to page 37. He looked at her. "Shall we?" She nodded and leaned slightly forward over the table, and he did the same thing. They began to read along with the rest of the classroom. The room fell dead silent, and Katniss became very self-conscious about her breathing.

And his breathing.

She couldn't help following his steady, rhythmic breathing, and before long, her breathing had unconsciously synced up with his. It was then that she remembered she was supposed to be reading.

She quickly scanned the page, figuring he would be halfway done with it by now, and she was supposed to be good at this subject. She adjusted herself in her seat to get a better view of the book. As she moved, her peripheral vision caught sight of his eyes, which seemed to flicker briefly towards her when she moved. She turned her eyes towards him, making sure to keep her head still, but his eyes were back on the book. Was he blushing?

_Blushing? Don't flatter yourself. Read._

And sure enough, by the time Katniss was about three quarters of the way done with reading the page, he looked up to signal he had finished reading it. Katniss quickly nodded, pretending she was done too, out of fear of appearing slow. He turned the page. Luckily, Katniss managed to keep up for the remaining pages. She wondered if he also pretended to be a faster reader than he really was, to appear smarter.

The questions turned out to be very easy, to Katniss' luck. It was mainly just parroting back what they had just read. With about 10 minutes of the lesson to go, they were finishing the last question.

"…less energy in the transmitted wave." The boy spoke each word slowly as he wrote them down on the paper. When done, he sat up straight, flipped the textbook shut, and scooted the paper towards the middle of the table. "That was easy enough."

Katniss studied the paper briefly as he passed it towards her. His handwriting was immaculate. By comparison, Katniss' looked like that of seven year old. "Your handwriting is amazing" she mumbled, scanning the paper. He merely shrugged, twirling the pen between his fingers. But there was a hint of a smug grin on his lips. Something outside the window caught his attention. Katniss followed his gaze. It was Coach Abernathy, still busy at work on the fields

"Jeez, those tryouts must be a real big deal" Katniss blurted out. "He's been out there all day."

"They are a big deal. You should come watch after class."

Katniss turned back to face him, eyebrow raised. "Are you going to be watching?"

He shook his head, grinning. "Not watching."

"Playing?" Katniss asked, raising her other eyebrow. He simply nodded, still grinning. She debated it in her mind for a moment.

"Sure, I'll come watch."

The pen, which had until now been dancing effortlessly over and under the boy's fingers, suddenly fell to the floor. Katniss bit her lip to hold back a chuckle as the boy, seemingly surprised by the acceptance of his invitation, bent down to pick up the pen again. He steadied himself on the chair again.

"Great."

At the bell, the pair got up and left the classroom together. The quickest way to the site of the tryouts was through the courtyard that connected building A and C. As they walked towards the courtyard, Katniss was the first to break the momentary silence that had fallen between them.

"So have you been playing long?"

He shrugged. "I've been on the team since Freshman year." Katniss gave an impressed nod, before he sheepishly added, "Though mostly on the bench." She wanted to encourage him, but she knew very little of soccer, the boy's ability to play it or any of his competition, so what she ended up saying sounded very generic.

"I'm sure this year will be your year." He chuckled, taking the encouragement.

"Thanks"

"How long do these tryouts usually take?"

"Hard to say really. An hour, hour and a half?" he shrugged. "Depends on the turnout." When they reached the courtyard, the boy turned towards the field, but Katniss stopped.

"Hey, I'm just gonna go drop off my bag in my car so I don't have to drag it around, then I'll be right out, okay?"

"Sure. It's over there." He pointed towards a large grass area by the end of the buildings. You could already see a small crowd forming. Katniss smiled and went off towards the parking lot.

_Aren't you forgetting something?_

Katniss stopped dead in her tracks and quickly spun around. "Oh, hey!"

He turned around as well, taking a single step back towards her. "Yeah?"

"I just remembered I never actually got your name yesterday."

The boy raised an eyebrow, an uncertain smile on his face. "Are you sure? I could've sworn I-" He stopped for a moment, apparently remembering how he was interrupted yesterday before he could say his full name. "Oh yeah. My apologies. My name's Peeta. Peeta Mellark." He flashed a brilliant smile, as if introducing himself for the first time. Which, in a sense, he was.

"Peeta." Katniss simply repeated his name. His smile turned into a small grin, and he turned back around and headed for the soccer field.

_Peeta._

Katniss lingered for a moment, then continued on towards the parking lot. She had just made it to her car and opened the door when her phone rang. It was her mother.

"Hey mom, what is it?" Katniss had gotten used to asking 'what is it' when answering calls from her mother. She never called unless she wanted Katniss to do something. This time was no different.

"**I need you to pick up Prim from school. I can't make it."**

Katniss wanted to kick the wheel of her truck in a mixture of disappointment, annoyance and anger, but decided it would probably hurt herself more than anything else.

"What do you mean you can't make it? Where are you?"

"**I'm at the hospital."**

"The hospital!? I thought you weren't going back to work until tonight?"

"**Someone else called in sick, I had to take the shift."**

"Oh, you _had _to take the shift, did you?" Katniss' voice was getting louder. "What if I had plans, huh? Did you think about that?"

"**Plans more important than your sister?"**

This pulled Katniss up short. Didn't she always go about saying and thinking how she'd do anything for her sister? Here she was, arguing about who should pick her up, because _some guy_ had asked her to come see him kick a ball around a field, whilst her mother was unable to do it because she was forced to practically work double shifts just to feed them. Katniss suddenly felt guilty. Very guilty.

"I'll go pick her up right away."

"**Thanks. There's dinner in the fridge. Gotta go."**

And with that, her mother hung up. Katniss reluctantly climbed in her truck and fired up the engine, trying to do the math in her head.

The tryouts lasted about an hour to an hour and a half. It would take her at least 40 minutes to get Prim and drive her home, and then another 30 to 35 minutes to drive back here. The tryouts could very well be over by the time she made it back to school. She contemplated heading over to the soccer field and tell the boy, Peeta, that she couldn't make it, but figured they were probably well underway by now, and she wouldn't be able to talk to him. She decided to just forget about it. She'd have to apologize to him tomorrow for not being there. He probably wouldn't be mad.

She _really_ hoped he wouldn't be mad.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So there you have it. Too long? Too uneventful? Please let me know!**


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